Development Core ? Project Summary The Development Core will help grow population sciences at UCLA by supporting innovative and ambitious interdisciplinary population research projects and developing the next generation of population scientists both through new initiatives and through modifications of our already successful cluster of activities. The specific aims of the development core are to 1. Institute a new, competitive course release program for CCPR junior scientists to further their careers and create synergies with our other mentorship activities. 2. Recruit, retain, and advance the most productive and innovative CCPR population scientists. 3. Provide seed funding for innovative projects and collaborations. 4. Enhance communication, exchange of ideas, and collaboration among CCPR affiliates and facilitate the exchange of ideas between CCPR affiliates and experts in population science. We will achieve these aims through 1. A competitive course release program for CCPR junior scientists to provide them with more time for their own research or external grant preparation. Support for this program comes solely from UCLA, which is providing 10 course releases over five years. This is a new activity. 2. Mentoring junior scientists, regularly communicating with all population scientists to determine how CCPR can best support their population research, maintaining an ongoing discussion with departments about their hiring activity and retention efforts, and timely contacts with hiring/retention candidates to describe CCPR's role in supporting their population research at UCLA. 3. A grant proposal preparation workshop, with one-on-one mentoring and on-going assistance ranging from preliminary analyses to editing. This is a modification of an existing program and will be supported by UCLA. 4. A seed grant program to help get new projects off the ground by providing assistance for preliminary data collection and analyses. 5. A weekly seminar series (an average of 29 per year, with 60-73% external scholars). 6. Developmental seminars on topics of special interest to affiliates, including compliance with regulations regarding responsible conduct of research, public accessibility of research results, and reproducibility of research results. 7. Support for affiliate-initiated conferences. 8. Support for affiliate Working Groups to encourage interdisciplinary communication and collaboration.